方茎草 fang jing cao

Gerardia parviflora Bentham, Scroph. Ind. 48. 1835; Leptorhabdos micrantha Schrenk.

Annuals, 20-100 cm tall, short glandular hairy. Stems erect, much branched and broomlike, basally purple-brown. Leaves opposite, sometimes alternate above, decreasing in size upward; lower leaf blade linear, 4-8 cm, pinnatisect; segments 1-5 pairs, narrowly linear, margin entire or toothed. Racemes long; bracts linear. Calyx 3-5 mm, 10-veined; lobes 5, subulate-triangular, shorter than tube. Corolla pink, ca. 6 mm; tube 2/3 of corolla length; lobes ovate-orbicular, 2-parted almost to base. Capsule oblong, 4-6 mm, margin apically short ciliate, apex obtuse and emarginate. Seeds ca. 2 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Banks of rivers and lakes, depressions, steppes; 800-1500 m. Gansu (Anxi Xian), Xinjiang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].

Leptorhabdos parviflora is expected to occur in Xizang, for it reaches 30°N latitude and 80°E longitude in the Himalayas.